picnic

We had a combined ward social at the park. It was super fun. There was a craft for the kids.

People played lax, kick ball, baseball, basketball.

Someone brought horses and the kids got to take rides!

Lu got in line 6 times.

We visited with friends and ate delicious food and it was a hot and sweaty good time.

When we got home we suited up and went to the pool and then to Brusters for "dinner".

happy memorial day

Sabbath Morning

This morning I am grateful for my freedom and this wonderful country I live in. Our freedom was bought at a terrible price, one fought for in battles that are ageless. Starting with a great battle in the preexistence where a third of our brothers and sisters fought against Heavenly Father's plan, a plan that gave us the precious gift of free agency. What a terrible cost.

And since that day many more battles have been waged.

I hope the side of right continues to value freedom and liberty. Continues to courageously fight.

It is a solemn responsibility and a cause worth dying for.

This morning I will enjoy the fruits of those fights as I dress my children in their Sunday clothes and head out to worship as I choose.

I will come home and share a meal with friends and family, enjoying the bounty of food and peace that is mine.

I will remember the battles of the past and shore up myself and my family for the days ahead.

I will feel blessed beyond measure and grateful.

Have a happy Sabbath day, and good memorial day friends.

Gettysburg

We took a quick, fun ,trip to Gettysburg. Everyone enjoyed it in their own way. Big B took pictures of the various battle sites.

And told us about what happened at each spot.

And looked at every marker and tree and stone and little fence.

Lu borrowed my camera and took many many pictures of "jilly", her zhu zhu pet.

example 2 of 130

sometimes she lay on the ground by jilly and took self portraits.

little B spent his time hiding and shooting bad guys...

I think he was on the union side, despite the fact that he's spent his whole life on rebel soil.

H brought a book and most of the time didn't bother to get out of the car :)

The big girls were grateful to stay home and I, I walked along enjoying my family.

chairs

does your furniture say anything about you? Mine does. Take these for example. They shout, boring and beg to be placed in a church foyer somewhere. They also say, "bought on sale" and "go on a diet". These are my living room chairs. The only thing I loved about them was their price tag and we needed something to "balance the living room" when we were trying to sell our TX cottage last year.

These are the chairs my heart wants. They say "I am comfy and fun" and "Creativity welcome here". They are not my chairs....

but....

I wonder? could I recover mine and make them chairs to love?

Stay tuned.

lovin some summer outside fun

priceless

we spent an hour and a half crawling around the airport customs gate, chasing Lu's ZhuZhu pet and waiting.....

and 5 hours driving, 2 there 3 back (traffic).....

to spend 14 1/2 minutes (that felt like less than one) with Anna and Ama and baby Joneaux.

and it was TOTALLY TOTALLY worth it! Love them, love her, wish my sister lived next door to me instead of all the way on the west coast.

strawberry patch field trip

rainbow dinner

I made Hawaiian haystacks, Kim brought ice cream sandwiches.
After dinner the kids ran around in the yard and rode Lu's jeep.

It was a good night:)

had a good weekend. Saturday night Big B and I went on a date, we had Mexican food and walked on the pier watching the fish jump and birds fly and had a good chat about life. He has been working, a lot, so we had catching up to do. It's good though, that's what we came here to do and I want a new couch so the overtime is good;) The kids had various parties and activities and we had the usual hopping for thing to thing time.

Church was excellent, we had good talks and lessons and it was good to just go. It's always a spiritual boost and buoy for the next week.
We had BYD which was also good. I love serving with the youth and out Bishopric is awesome.


Dani and Sierra are in Fort Worth doing some visiting. I am anxious to hear how everyone is. Marcia was so nice to send me these cute photos. I love this one of Sierra...and it answers and mystery we were trying to solve earlier, which was "where is Jenna's new green dress?" Note: when you "borrow" something from your sister, don't get photographed in it.

Went to the doctor this morning, it was a regular check up on my meds and I was very excited to learn that I am hypothyroid! I have been feeling so tired and my brain hasn't been working right (for example the other day I was in the shower and I usually soap up my bod and shave and whatever then shampoo and then I'm done, however this time I was looking forward to the shampooing because I had a new flavor to try and so I did that first, then the rest and then I couldn't' remember if I'd washed my hair or not and had to open the door and check in the mirror. How dumb is that?!) and I've just felt scattered, which are all symptoms but a side effect of losing your cognitive abilities is you might not put 2 and 2 together very quickly so I didn't think and then this morning my TSH was skyrocketing and now a simple adjustment and all should be well! yeah!

In other good news, Addie called me like 4 times this morning on Colleens phone, so I thought something was up and went over to see. (Addie is 2) and she just had the phone out and was walking around with it. When I got to Michelle's there was a weekly couponing meeting happening so I sat in and got some coupons and am thinking about maybe giving it a go. One coupon I got was for a $25 gift card at CVS when you bring in a new script, and I happened to have two new ones thanks to my morning adjustment so I went to CVS and got $50 back!! Yeah!!!

Now we're off to the elementary school for a patriotic tribute to our troops and tonight we're having some friends over for dinner.

look how clear the water is in the bahamas!

good morning

H came in my room this morning and reminded me it was muffins with moms day. I had forgotten and was glad she didn't. We hopped up and got everyone showered and ready, then headed over. It was very nice. Yummy muffins, juice, a few minutes to visit. The best part was each family got to take home a new book. We were walking by the tables with the books spread out on them and I spotted BeeBimBop out of the corner of my eye. We quickly selected it and went on our way celebrating our good luck. I had checked that out of the library some time ago and we loved it, so cute and fun to read because it has a fun skipping cadence. We even made BeeBimBop. Then I took it back to the library and could never find it again, we looked many times, and even looked at book stores. I had given up and then today: ta da, there it was!

Also, further good news, on the way to J's school is an osprey nest with a mated pair and their chicks. I love to look at them. A couple days ago J told me that one of the adults was on the road and got hit by a car! Oh, how sad that news was. We looked up at the one lone bird as we drove by and wondered how it could go on, and how it would take care of it's babies. This morning I saw two adults!! I think maybe the dead bird was a different osprey, which is still sad, but not as sad as one of my family of birds being dead.

What else? Had a good "monthly night of ministry" last night, also planned a quickie trip to Gettysburg that should be fun and the sun is shining!

It is a good morning :)

i only have a few more to hit

visited 33 states (66%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

I sat there with Sally, we sat there we two

doesn't this just scream of the cat in the hat?

no TV, no problem, just get some guys to build something in your backyard and you have an afternoons worth of entertainment

another rainy monday

It rains a lot here, we are getting used to that fact. This morning it's a clean gentle rain that carries the sent of honeysuckle and feels like the softest moist kiss: the kind that tickles your ankles and coats your hair with a shimmery dew.

We have guys in the yard building the deck foundation. The kids were amazed and fascinated this morning. They stood at the window, waffles in hand, chewing and watching. Lu declared that when she grows up she wants her job to be digging holes, and little b wanted to stay home from school to watch. It will be lovely to have a deck. We can grill and sit....maybe watch the deer.

Had a good weekend. Big B worked a lot, which was good for the $$. Lu went to a fun gymnastics birthday party. She had the most awesome time and it was super cute! Her friend Lydia turned 4:) H also went to a birthday party. Katie turned 11 and they had a neighborhood scavenger hunt that was really fun and the girls all got pedicures. Love it.
E got to play with his good friends John and Justin. They mostly grab onto each other and roll around in a heap, much like a pack of puppies, they also throw things at each other, things like balls and paper airplanes and dirt.

J played. She went to Mr Leonardtown and to a friend's to sleep over and watch movies on Friday and she and Lisa hung out on Saturday. S worked. She's a worker bee.

Last night Jordan came over for some fish tacos and Mexican brownies. After everyone headed across the street to shoot some hoops and then after the littles went to bed we watched the end of survivor. It was a good night. I like it when everyone hangs out together. That's the one thing I hate about big houses, too many places to go off and be alone. I like the fam all squished together forced to "enjoy each other's company".

To Die For Mexican Brownies
1 box betty crocker original supreme brownie mix, with chocolate syrup pouch
1 T cinnamon
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup toasted, chopped pecans

mix brownie mix according to package directions. Add cinnamon and chocolate chips. Bake. Cool.

in 2 quart sauce pan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, heat to boiling and stir for 2 minutes at low boil. Stir in milk. Bring back to boil. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm.
Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth. Frost. Top with pecans.

Delish!

an open letter to the children of the world:

Dear Children,
Count your lucky stars that you do not suffer the injustice of being my child. I am the meanest mom in the world.

Today Hannah told me that I am awful. I keep her "isolated" from the world and ALL her friends have it much better than she does. They get to go to concerts by artists she has never heard of, and see movies that she has never even heard of, and have their own cell phones and wear clothes from stores that we don't shop at. She NEVER gets to watch TV and always has to do chores and homework and practice her clarinet.

Brother is upset because during the summer he has to wake up in the morning and go to swim team, and tennis lessons and he wants to watch TV and play. Also top of his complaint list is that I make him eat disgusting food. He hates oatmeal, and chicken nuggets and vegetables and all things prepared. He does like nachos and pbJ sandwiches but we NEVER have those.

Poor J is not immune either, EVERY other junior has a car of their own, and a nice one to boot, and no curfew and can do what they like because they are so very mature and responsible.

I meanly make the kids wear seat belts even though they are "stupid", I make them brush their teeth with "Spicy toothpaste" the "annoys" them. I make them go to bed on time, get up on time and try to teach them to be polite and responsible.
I also don't let them call each other names, or hurt each other, or litter.

It's pretty sad around here.

I also use them as blog fodder, it's one of my few joys and really the reason I had six kids :)

little ballerina

this little dancer can crawl and sit and say mama AND she's coming to visit us this summer!!! Yeah!!!!!

cruise reading

I had a lot of wonderful time to read on our cruise. I took a stack of books and read 3 1/2 of them.

"Girls of Ames" was first on my list. It is biographical in nature and tells the story of 11 girls who grew up friends in a small college town in the heart land of the nation. It tells of their childhoods, teenage years and adult years. It's a story of friendship, and the challenges that life brings.

It was okay.

"The Glass Castle" was next. It was an autobiography about a girl who grew up for all intents and purposes homeless. Her parents moved their family around the country, running from bill collectors and imaginary enemies. They were poor, driven to drink, and mentally unstable yet she had some happy times and loved her family. I enjoyed the book and rooted for her as she tried to build a normal, secure life for herself.

two thumbs up

"First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria" was my third book, also autobiographical in nature (funny) about a woman who wants to be a do-gooder. She signs up for the peace corp and it tells of her life there, falling in love with her recruiter, and their lives together after traveling the world doing good, living the expat life, catching rare and unusual diseases, and raising a family. It was my favorite book. Funny, relateable, interesting.

a must read

Lastly I read "The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder", written by the same author as the Ya Ya books. It was a set in the south coming of age story about a girl named Calla Lily Ponder. It's light and silly and focused on hair. I loved it. I cried for her a couple of times, cheered others and enjoyed the mint julep, Cajun music and magnolia dripping images it brought to mind.

Strawberry picking

Colleen and I took J and G to the Strawberry farm to pick some berries. It was very cute and fun. The owner has a little girl named EmmaMae that Lu took quite a liking to.

I also bought a pioneer bonnet made by a lovely Mennonite lady for trek! So nice, and one less thing that I need to sew:)

"40"

yesterday was the big day. Big B turned 40!

Really our celebration was the cruise but we still wanted to mark the day. Nana sent him a lovely cak, we had pizza and the kids sang to him. It was fabulous.

He also went to work, and mowed the lawn and tucked the kids into bed. That's how you celebrate when you are a grown up :)

P.V.A.D.

I am suffering from p-Vad, post vacation adjustment disorder. After many luxurious days having meals prepared for me and my bed made for me and warm tropical waters to swim in coming home and doing chores, and paying bills, and wearing sweaters is just not fun.

So today we took the afternoon off and went to the circus! Very fun. The animals were great. Little B liked the motorcycles in the "cage of danger" best. I liked the cute animals. Lu liked the trapeze, and H wants to sign up to travel the world as a circus performer :)

hercules and us

loved this guy, he was so sweet and no we are not in a pool, that is the ocean with it's beautiful white sand and clear water. AMAZING!

a few photos

chicka chicka boom boom

majestic Atlantis

a beautiful sculpture

predator reef

up close and personal

ice sculpting demo

all the strawberry drinks you could want

love it!

look how clear that water is!